Tihar inmates to learn bee-keeping, preparing honey, ties up with Khadi commission

Jail officials said the prison complex would cultivate honey, which will be sold in the market like their products made in the jail factory.

Inmates of the country’s largest prison, Delhi’s Tihar, are learning the art of bee keeping and preparing honey within the prison complex.

The wards and cells of jail 5 were been turned into training wards for prisoners and Khadi and Village Industries Commission  volunteers.

The jail administration in a tie-up with the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) have started training young prisoners in vocations such like bee keeping, detergent and soap making, handmade paper conversion and incense (agarbatti) making.

Jail officials said the prison complex would cultivate honey, which will be sold in the market like their products made in the jail factory.

The jail administration has planned to have at least 500 rearing units across the 200-acre prison complex. Presently it has one in the garden within jail 5 complex.

Tihar runs a bakery and a factory unit with a turnover worth Rs 35 crore. DG Prisons Sudhir Yadav said the vocational training had started in jail number 5, where most first-time prisoners between the age of 18 and 21 are lodged.

“We will ensure that once they are out of jail, they have something to look forward to,” said a Yadav.

The wards and cells of jail 5 were been turned into training wards for prisoners and KVIC volunteers. Vinay Saxena, chairman of KVIC, said there is a lot of potential and energy among inmates and expressed confidence that after training they would not only get suitably employed themselves, they could also be providing employment to several other inmates in their vocation.

The KVIC chairman offered to adopt jail number 5 for continuous training and rehabilitation of inmates.

“ Prison these days are not viewed as a place of and for punishment but are considered as correctional homes where persons on the other side of the law are encouraged and facilitated in reformation and rehabilitation programmes. Because jail 5 is a prison for young offenders, this casts an extra responsibility on jail administration to act as a guardian and channelize their energy towards positivity,” said DG Sudhir Yadav.